. ... >> steve: we should point out that "killing lincoln" will premiere this sunday night at 8:00 p.m. on the national

geographic channel. and it's great. >> brian: it's great. you actually learn something. as you said, it's a documentary where tom hanks is in and out as the narrator. >> that's right. it's a new animal for national geographic. it's a documentary. they call it a docu drama. i call it a thriller. >> steve: you just invented a genre. congratulations. >> net geodid create a new format for things because you have these narrative components and then it drops into the action and you're in a feature film. >> brian: congratulations on being the nicest bad guy we know. >> alisyn: yeah. thanks so much. >> steve: they're going to be in the after the show show along with janis and he'll do the radio show. so long. fragments of a ten-ton rock exploding filling the skies with smoke and flames.

it is caught on tape. [explosion] this happened 900 miles east of moscow in russia. happened in broad daylight too. good morning, everybody. there is lot to talk about this today. i'm bill hemmer. plenty of stuff. welcome on a friday morning. welcome to heather. >> i'm heather nauert in for martha maccallum heather: it create a shock wave. it bloke glass for hundreds of miles. lots of people were hospitalized. bill: it is so pure because it is day time. there are so many shots of this too. you can see the traffic moving through the street. they say sometimes when this happens, it will happen over the ocean or over the sea. and you don't get the same

images. heather: you never know about it. bill: but this is a big city now. happened in a big russian city in the ural mountains, hours before a asteroid buzzes either to the closest on record but we're told there is no connection. greg palkot has more in london. what do we know about this event, greg. >> reporter: amazing amateur video we've been watching as you folks at that i can take it in as well. it happened in a russian city 130 miles east of moscow. it happened 9:20 local time. that is why a lot of people saw it, a lot of people reported it, out on the street, inside buildings you name it. the russian scientists now say it entered the earth's atmosphere at get this, 33,000 miles an hour. at least 20 foot wide this meet tore. and -- meteor.

people saw the thing streaking across the sky. it broke up and exploded in a fireball just about 30 miles above the ground and fragments came down. that is what people saw streaking down. that is what they heard, son i can explosions. that is what really caused according to authorities the most damage. that is what broke windows and caved in roofs and walls we understand as well. at least 500 people were injured. at least 100 people hospitalized. so far no deaths. when the meteor hits the ground becomes a meet i don't rememberite. at least one crater was found. amazing morn for those folks in that city. bill: are there anymore coming? is that something we can even predick, greg? >> reporter: hard to tell what is coming at the earth. this is rare, unusual and spectacular. most meteors burn up before

they get into the at moss fear. in united states in 2010 a tennis ball-sized rock fell in virginia. in 2003, new orleans, chicago, was maybe every five years or so you get a big strike like this usually in unpopulated areas. in 2008 in sudan. we have heard a bit more about incidents like this in russia just because that country as a huge land mass. for example, way pack in 1908 a massive meteor hit siberia and it devastated an area about 1200 miles wide. again, unpopulated as millions of trees were down. but right now this area is still rocking and still assessing what happened in this populated city in a populated area. a lot of accounts. so far at least, no deaths. bill? bill: greg, thank you. i want to show our viewers here, greg palkot in london. this is russian television now. that is some of the surveillance video when that meteor hit. it broke the sound barrier.

when you heard the woman scream, you can imagine it is broad daylight and your window blows out. heather: you hear this big boom. you think it might be an explosion or something like that. that is the sonic boom of that meet right hitting the ground. --. bill: it scare as lot of people. 4 to 500 injured. this story will go on. heather: that is absolutely for sure. especially we have asteroid zooming in the direction of the earth later today. speaking of the meteor, yes, sir assured it has nothing to do with the asteroid set to buzz the earth later this year. what is the difference between an asteroid and a meteor. so we decided to figure it out. depends where it is. asteroid is rock and metal object up in space but it become as meteor when it on enters the earth's atmosphere. once it hits the ground it

bomb as meteorite. there is our geology lesson. bill: according to nasa, 100 tons of meet toors of gravel and dust hit the atmosphere and the earth every single day. the smaller strikes what we saw in russia happen ten times a year. that's new. scientists believe a strike by a meteor six miles across may have been responsible for extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. in case you're wondering on a friday have something to do over the weekend you mentioned the asteroid talking about past several days. they say there is no connection between that and this meteor. we'll talk to scientists throughout the morning. heather: a lot of experts. bill: meantime, six minutes past, the nightmare is finally over. what a slow crawl this was. thousands of passengers cheering the end of a cruise

ship horror scene. touching land and kissing it like the pope. the carnival cruise triumph docking last night in mobile after putting what passengers through what they call disgusting conditions. now they say they are just happy to be home. who can blame them. >> i feel great to be off the ship and just being on land and, i get to see my family. i think that was a clear just part. not knowing when we would see land again. >> how do you feel after all this. >> i'm exhausted. i'm tired. but i'm also relieved just to be on land to see my parents. drive back to houston and go home and take a shower and lay in my own bed. bill: two for it. jonathan serrie is live at that port in mobile, alabama. jonathan, how are passengers doing today? good morning there. >> reporter: good morning, bill. many of the passengers are already home. i have live video i want to show you from galveston,

texas. some of the buses are arriving there. these are someone00 buses that carnival cruise lines chartered to bring passengers from the port here in mobile, alabama to that original port where they departed from in galveston, texas. other passengers will be leaving aboard charter jets, some 20 charter jets from new orleans. company officials say they are going to pay for all of the travel expenses involved with getting each passenger home. carnival also says it will give each passenger a full refund for this cruise, credit towards a future cruise, and $500 in cash. bill? bill: mean time that sucker is sitting down there in mobile. what is next for that ship, jonathan? >> yeah. well the ntsb is boarding the ship and going to investigate what caused the sunday engine room fire that led to the loss of power. the ship will also undergo a mechanical overhaul here in mobile. and bill, as you can imagine, cleaning crews have their

work cut out for them. bill: i bet they do. thank you, jonathan. good work, jonathan serrie in mobile. >> reporter: thank you. heather: a lot of work. a lot of work. we've seen pictures of everybody coming back to shore now finally. one of those ladies who was captured kissing the ground as she finally got of the cruise ship is kendall jenkins. you can see her right there. she joins us this morning. there she is as she kisses terra firma. she joins us live by phone. good morning, kendall. i guess i don't have to ask you how you felt getting off that ship? >> oh my foodness. my phone is blowing up with me in the white robe getting that kiss the let me tell you, it was the best valentines gift i ever got hands down. heather: you know, how do you feel about the cruise line, reimbursing you and then offering you another cruise? in your mind, are they doing enough? >> well, i can just tell you i will not be taking that cruise, definitely not worth it. but, you know my mind is not

really on the money and what they're doing right now. i'm just spending time with family and my sister drove in from texas a&m. so i'm happy to spend time with her. heather: sure. we're looking at picture of you kissing the ground as you got off. what were the days and nights for you on board the ship? >> they were long. me and my friend would joke, what time do you think it is? i always thought it was later but still like 9:00 a.m.. heather: time goes very slowly. >> get in line for lunch. we had plan way ahead to beat the crowds. there is always a line but, try to find that peanut butter and jelly sandwich. we thought we won the lottery monday. went in at 10:00 a.m. to try to get nonmayonnaise food and found a piece of wheat bread which was coveted. and found a random jar of peanut butter and were ecstatic. heather: we heard some stories people fighting over food and other stories were

folks were pretty darn cooperative given the circumstances. what was your take? >> i wasn't fighting over anything because, yeah, none of that looked very appetizing anyway. the grapefruit was in abundance. so i stuck with that. just plain bread, corn flakes. heather: you kept a it pretty simple then? >> yes, i wasn't risk it with yogurt and milk. heather: i want to ask about communication on board. some people say the cruise job did not do a good job letting you know what was happening. did you have a good sense how long you would be there and what was going on especially at the beginning? >> unfortunately not. every announcement that came on it seemed like it was hours later when it would actually happen. so, that was kind of tough. i know their communication was probably difficult as well. but, yeah. and then once the cruise ship would finally come we could get service from there but it was really tricky. you would stand out there

for hours trying to get a line out to a loved one. you would see people breaking down in tears once they were able to get through. heather: kendall, we have a few seconds left, if you could say something to the ceo of the cruise line was at a miami heat game when you were apparently having fun, what would you say? >> i would say your crew deserves a big raise. if it weren't for their attitude a lot of people would be way more upset. just how they continued to serve through circumstances was really humbling and inspiring. heather: kendall jenkins, thank you so much. we are glad that you are back at home too. >> me too. heather: she is not going on another cruise she says anytime soon. nice to see you killing kissing the ground. mobile never looked so good. bill: how about the comment i didn't want to eat that stuff anyway? you can have it. wow. heather: people say, time and time again the crew did a nice job even though --. bill: talk about stuck inside of mobile right? that they were. heather: there you go. bill: we are just getting started. back to the shock in the sky.

[explosion] bill: ma scene. we'll have more on the meteorite exploding over the earth raining fireballs down on russia. heather: an olympic hero charged with murder for the first time. we're now hearing from oscar pistorius after his girlfriend was shot and killed in his home. he was in court this morning. bill: president obama made big proposals in the state of the union. speaker of the house john boehner is calling for a reality check. >> it is easy to go out there to be santa claus and talk about all the things you want to give away.

heather: well those battery problems grounding boeing's state-of-the-art dreamliner fleet now having a ripple effect across that industry. the lithium ion batteries are blamed for a pair of fires including one that forced an ana flight to make an emergency landing in japan.

now boeing's competitor airbus is dropping its plans to use a lithium ion batteries in its newest jet, the a350. investigators are still working to figure out what caused boeing's batteries to ignite in the first place. bill: house speaker john boehner taking a jab at the president for again promising to fix the nation's roads and bridges without saying where he would get the money to do so. >> trying to find a funding source to repair the nation's infrastructure is still a big goal of mine and, the president talked about infrastructure but he didn't talk about how to pay for it. you know easy to go out there to be santa claus and talk about all the things you have to give away but at some point somebody has to pay the bill. bill: he ended it by saying ho, h or ho erick erickson editor of redstate.com. how are you doing, eric? >> i'm doing fine. bill: this is the old traditional argument, one side versus the other,.

what do you think about what boehner had to say yesterday. >> i was waiting for someone to say this the president's reference wanting to rebuild roads and bridges in every speech given to congress, did it again in detate tour, georgia. never said how he would pay for it. normally they're paying it with the gas tax. congress is spending it on a lot of things with the president's blessing. bill: peace dividend. that is like the money you save from wrapping up wars such as afghanistan? >> look. maybe so but we're already running a deficit. bill, if you take 100% of the income of everyone who makes $250,000 a year or more you're still not going to close his own proposed budget deficit. i don't know where he will get the money from when he says nothing he will do will add to the deficit. bill: what he said the other night it should not add a single dime to the deficit. >> should. he was a lawyer. bill: should is the operative word there, you're right about that. if he said it will not add,

that would be declarative, right? >> right. it would be. so he is hemming and hawing. look the president doesn't want to cut anymore taxes. he wants to raise taxes. he knows he will not get them. republicans want to go through see questions operation was his -- sequestration, which was his idea to begin with. i don't see how he will get any of his wish-list. historically the presidents never get the state of the union wish-list. bill: that is true. this appears it is not going anywhere. when you listen to the hard-line of the republicans in the house when it comes to raising new taxes the senate put out a plan and floated anyway in the democratic senate to raise taxes on those making more than a million dollars a year. >> right. bill: do any of those ideas get any traction, do you believe? >> no, i don't think any of them will. i'll put it to you this way. republicans will be happy to spend and as will democrats but do it through deficit spending. should not race the deficit. that is not reality if. they spend anything it will go up and add to the

national debt. neither has will power to make significant cuts. speaker says he doesn't want to do sequestration but that is only reality that will happen that sequestration will go forward you don't think either side would cut anything. >> no, they want to keep taking loans from china. they both have constituencies they want to pay. bill: what did the president offer this week on spending cuts? >> i'm not really sure what the president is offering on spending cuts. he offered sequestration. now he wants to get rid of that and blame the republicans. he said we can get rid of weight, fraud and abuse. there is not anywhere enough waste, fraud and abuse in the government although it is significant to pay for universal pre-k for everyone. bill: do you think washington is okay with sequestration? let's do the cuts and see what happens as a result? let's see what happens on the 2nd of march? >> i think house republicans are okay with see questions operation. they have been campaigning for a while to cut spending this is the only plan on the

table to cut spending. beauty they don't have to do anything. it will happen if they do nothing. bill: do you think that helps or hurts? how do you see that? >> i think it probably ultimately helps the republicans because i think the american people need to show you can cut washington and not have devastating impacts. the issue for republicans is, will they move forward with the continuing resolution pick a fight on obamacare which is much more unpopular than the sequestration. bill: so you think there is rewarded if the cuts happen, and there is no pack lash. >> they are loaning term. american people have short memories. by the time 2014 it is not republican's fault and two, it was barack obama's idea. bill: welcome to fox. first time to have you. >> thank you very much. bill: erick erickson out of the home state of georgia. 20 past the hour. here is heather. heather: sticking with the theme of politics, republicans successfully filibustering president obama's nominee for secretary of defense, for now. will chuck hagel be confirmed anyway? why the delay? former

senator scott brown is just ahead. he will address that. bill: he was holding his head in his hands. olympic star oscar pistorius, formally charged with shooting his girlfriend to death inside of his hope. he put out his first statement. we'll get a live report out of south africa.

bill: this word from the vatican today. the retiring pope benedict xvi signing off on one of the last major appointments of his papacy. he approved a german lawyer to head the troubled vatican bank. that appointment ends a nine-month search after the previous bank chief was ousted for incompetence. pope benedict steps down on the 28th of february,

triggering a new conclave in mid-march with the selection of a new pope happening sometime we do believe in mid to late march, beef easter. heather: that should be exciting to watch. let's talk about another story that's getting a lot of attention now. an emotional court appearance in south africa just hours ago as prosecutors say they will pursue premeditated murder charges against olympian oscar pistorius. the disabled athlete known, as "the blade runner". led into court. you can see him right there, was covered with a jacket. he openly went once he was inside that courtroom, as he was formally charged with shooting his girlfriend to death. a short time ago his agent released a statement that pistorius disputes the charge. earlier we also heard from the victim's uncle. listen to this. >> such a devastating shock that, the whole life of what she could achieve never came it fulfillment.

and i would say she is with the angels and that's about all i can say to you folks. heather: that is so sad. emma hurd, joins us with our sister station, sky network, sky news. she is live in pretoria, south africa. good morning, emma. >> reporter: oscar pistorius broke down in tears as the charge of murder was officially laid against him. he continued sobbing, prosecutors will pursue a charge of premeditated murder. details of the case as we know them are this. in the early hours of valentine's day the body of 29-year-old reva steenkamp, aspiring model was found in oscar miss tore you's -- pistorius's home. his 9mm pistol was found at the scene. he was soon arrested. there were reports mistaken that he might have mistaken her of being a burglar. there was suggests after argument, screaming and

shouting before the police were called. all of this case shocked south africa who views this man as one of the golden boys of south african sports. they're now wondering whether he has a darker side. for now oscar pistorius is being held at the local police station. he is going to remain there while an application for bail is lodged. the hearing is due on tuesday. prosecutors say they will oppose that application. they believe he should stay in custody. heather, back to you. heather: thank you so much. emma hurd from our sister station down there in south africa covering the story for us. bill: when we heard about this the possibility of a murder charge. they go with premeditated murder. heather: a real change we talked to an attorney, one of many yesterday about, you know, where this investigation goes. the forensics will be a big part of this. and he mentioned the distance by which this woman was shot. heather: believed to be at close range or quite a distance? bill: we don't know. that will tell us a lot. if he claims it was an intruder and say distance of

20 or 30 feet maybe that backs up his claim. but if it were at point-blank range that may help the prosecution. heather: that would be a whole another story. bill: that is the point the district attorney was making. this is a big, big deal in that country for a national hero. heather: we should also mention her autopsy is being conducted today. bill: that's right. heather: we'll talk with some experts, forensic experts later on in the show. bill: 28 minutes past. this is a scene straight from an end of the world asteroid movie. watch this. [inaudible] [explosion. ] [scream] bill: that is ten-ton meteor slamming into the atmosphere over russia. folks thought they were at war. with good reason. hundreds of people were left injured. we'll he will have a closer look at that straight ahead here on "america's newsroom.". ♪ . oh!

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earth's atmosphere. look at this. >> [inaudible]. [explosion] [scream] heather: you see that smoke and hear the boom. we'll talk about that in just a second. folks felt like they were in a war zone. shockwaves blowing glass out for miles and miles. a piece of that meteor created a 20 foot wide crater. we have the managing editor for space.com. he joins us live via skype. good morning. we track these things sometimes. nasa does. did we haved in this was coming? >> no this was a complete surprise. nasa and as strongers in were watching another space rock,. as fer road coming close to earth but will not hit us later this afternoon. this was a complete surprise to everyone including folks in russia that had a really rude awakening this morning. >> absolutely, and in broad

daylight no less. that is why we have so many pictures. you mentioned the asteroid, are these two connected the meteor rite -- meteorite in russia and the asteroid that will come hundreds of miles from earth? >> that was my first question to nasa. i reached out to their lead asteroid scientist. he told me they are not related at all. they came from a completely different direction. a separate fireball event. heather: is that good? >> well, it's good in that they know nothing unexpected is happening with this asteroid. it is already giving us a close shave. it is doing anything unpredictable would be a bit alarming. heather: okay. >> so that is good news. it is fireball season for nasa. heather: fireball season. okay. back to the meteorite for a second. i understand this happens once every ten years and it is not completely unheard of. usually before they come

down they burn up in the earth's surface. why didn't this one? >> this one is ten tons, fairly large. depends what it was made of. it was probably several meters wide. it was fairly big to survive all the way through. it did ex-most in the atmosphere. it is a very powerful shock wave to create the destruction you saw. heather: let me talk to you for a second because i want to show our viewers this. we see this big plume of smoke, and then we hear, if we have it here. a big bang. i understand that. do we have it? [explosion] that that noise, was, was actually a sonic boom. tell us about that smoke and that noise. >> well basically as the asteroid came in it reached a point where it just could not keep itself together on the way down and somewhere just, tens of, thousands of feet up it exploded. you had that sonic boom noise. you had this massive shock wave. it shattered windows across

this region of eastern russia. hundreds of people in the hospital. hundreds more just injured from falling glass. but the roof damage on many of the buildings. russia's emergency ministry is, canvasing the area. they're finding pieces of the meteorite you mentioned earlier. heather: sure. >> so it's a very widespread damage problem they're looking at right now. heather: let's just put this into perspective for our folks here. this meteor was traveling 33,000 miles per hour. it was going 40 times faster than the speed of sound. 60 times faster than a commercial jet. this thing sounds pretty massive and fortunately we have not heard of any deaths as of yet. >> yeah. and so, it is definitely a large space rock. not as large at least according to early estimates as the one flying by later today. that one if it hits could actually create even more

local damage. heather: but you say that is not going to happen? that asteroid is not going to happen? >> that is not going to happen. heather: that's good to know. thanks so much for joining us from space.com, tariq malik. we'll show you more and more of the video throughout the day. it is something else. bill: there is lot of it too. heather: folks are really nervous about this i got a call from my brother in denver yesterday off he called me three times. i thought you were going to tell me an asteroid was hitting the earth. don't call me so many times. he was nervous. bill: if it can happen in russia certainly can happen here. heather: right. >> as your guest pointed out you have little or no warning. one thing nasa is working on how they can send a rocket or missile or somehow land on an asteroid and then send it in a different direction as it was coming toward the earth. but that's an asteroid that you can predict when its path is known. this meteor was not on anybody's radar. that is part of the very scary scenario.

heather: pretty sizable too. bill: it was. when you think about ten tons but still all of this stuff flying through the atmosphere but in the end was 750 people injured. most of them not seriously but 750. you get an idea how lucky they were in the end not to lose anybody through death or a greater casualty. all right, republicans blocking a vote in the senate on chuck hagel. what now? former massachusetts senator scott brown is here with his take on that in a moment. heather: you're a golfer, right there, bill? how would you like to see this on the golf course? a golf course invasion. the bouncing mob that you don't want to miss. ♪ . [ whistle blows ] hi victor! mom? i know you got to go in a minute but this is a real quick me, that's perfect for two! campbell's chunky beef with country vegetables, poured over rice!

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heather: well if you like golf you know a lot of golfers worry about sand traps and water hazards but take a look at some of the

woman's top golfers had to deal with in australia. this mob of kangaroos interrupting play in the women's open in canberra. australia's capital is dry this time of year. they are drawn to the lushed watered golf courses of the this is the same tournament where a swedish golfer was bitten by a black widow spider earlier in the week. stay away from that one. kangaroos are sure cute. bill: four. when they steal the ball you have real issues. buddy, come back here. heather: in the little pocket, the pouch. bill: they make a great caddie in that case. heather: there you go. bill: all right. now, senate republicans temporarily blocking chuck hagel's defense secretary nomination yesterday. republicans have issues with hagel. former massachusetts senator scott brown, now a fox news contributor with me now. senator, great to have you. good morning to you out of washington. >> good morning to you and your viewers. bill: out of washington i see today. what do you think about the hagel deal? what happens here? >> listen, voting on nominees and judges being presented is one of the most

important jobs a senator has. if they have issues, if any senators have issues or questions they want answered it is their right, number one, the obligation of the nominee and the administration to provide that information and the fact that they have not had full disclosure yet and there is still some unanswered questions i think it is within their right. i predicted yesterday they would not move forward. i ultimately feel he will but until the questions are answered and the proper information is given to the senators in their inquiry, it is not happening. bill: so you think this is temporary at least for the moment? he goes through, what next time he comes up at the end of the month? >> listen if harry reid wanted to bring it up he could cancel a vacation and come in next week if he wanted. the real easy answer is immediately provide the information. there is a history with the administration and the majority party not providing all of the information. they will provide a little bit here, a little bit there. hopefully you will forget about it. bottom line if they want to get this done, they should sit down with the concerned senators and actually provide the appropriate

information. that is pretty simple. bill: this is what we heard. at least two of the speeches apparently were made, four, maybe five years ago that were not provided. was it intentional for him not to present these speeches because they thought it would be controversial? >> i'm not sure, certainly. but they are, people are aware of them and they need to be part of the entire package that is being presented. and the senators have an absolute right to get this information. bill: senator lindsey graham has been hot on this trail and his big issue is not having the answers on what happened the night of september 11th in benghazi. is he justified on that position? because at the moment i don't see him bending. he says he is will fight to the very end until he gets everything answered. >> listen and why not? the american people deserve to know what happened when we lost some american citizens in that tragedy, absolutely. i know lindsey. i served with him. we served in afghanistan for a short period of time. he is a wonderful guy very thoughtful, thorough. he has every right to know what was going on in every

facet of that operation. clearly there was a breakdown. we need to find out, number one, how the breakdown happened. number two, how to prevent future breakdowns so we don't have additional losses of life. bill: what is interesting about that story is that every time you peel it away, it seems to reveal more and more questions. now -- >> absolutely. bill: what democrats are arguing is that this whole, call it a holdup, others have refered to it, others have not gone there yet, it makes us look weak overseas. do you agree with that? >> i disagree with that, absolutely not. secretary panetta that has the job. we have a vice that can handle operations. we're not one person runs everything in the united states of america. we have people trained to do their jobs. the fact we have the ability to have a smooth transition with a temporary hiccups now and then, that is what our democracy is all about. it is what the process our founding fathers wanted to have in place. i think it is working fine.

i think they have the right to ask those questions. i would be asking the very same questions. and still am asking the same questions. bill: there's also another issue with john brennan. do you think he should be the next cia director? >> well i think that's another issue and another position that is, you know, everybody's a little bit fuzzy on right now. i think you need to have more questions be answered on his nomination as well. so we'll see. bill: it appears the questions on brennan go directly to the u.s. policy on drones. we had rand paul on yesterday, the senator from kentucky. he is adamant that he will not allow brennan to go forward unless he answers a simple question. and that is, whether or not it is u.s. policy and u.s. law to use a drone over american skies and target americans here at home. what is your view on that? >> well, bottom line, i think senator paul has every right to have his questions answered. you're putting someone in a position in the cia that

obviously is going to be making decisions that affect everyday americans not only here but abroad. he has that right to have those questions answered. we need to have a full disclosure from the administration as to what the policy is going to be. listen, i don't have a problem when somebody leaves their citizenship at the door and they're overseas and they have taken up arms against the united states of america. and they clearly are trying to hurt americans not only here but abroad, to use drones. i've been public on that already. the question comes what about here in the united states? that's a good question. bill: he seas the question is easy, yes or no. so far he hasn't gotten an answer. >> then he deserves the answer and so does every other senator who is asking the tough questions. they need to be answered. the american people deserve full disclosure on all these issues. bill: one more question. kerry, hagel, brennan, if that is the way the team shapes up are you happy with that team? >> i know senator kerry i think he will do a fine job. i said that publicly.

i've known him for many, many years. out of all the candidates he certainly the best. hagel, i'm not sure if i would have voted for hill. there are still unanswered questions. brennan, you know the same thing. bill: wow! senator, thank you. welcome to fox news. scott brown. >> great to be on, guys. bill: great to have you with us here. to viewers at home, hemmer@foxnews.com. that is the e-mail of follow me on twitter @billhemmer. need one line in the form of a question please, because you asked, bya. thanks again to the senator. heather: can even ask about asteroids. bill: you can do that. heather: democrats say they have a plan the massive defense cuts that are looming over the pentagon. we'll give you a hint. it includes billions of dollars in more taxes. we'll ask chris wallace about this. owe is coming up. bill: crews are racing to repair damage from hurricane sandy still to this day in time for memorial weekend. remember that shot, the iconic roller coaster in the ocean? it is still there.

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bill: a billion dollars in bets made by one person. former san diego mayor maureen o'connor admitted to using two million dollars her late husband's charitable fund to fuel a gambling addiction. she wagered more than a billion dollars, losing 13 million over ten years. she was married to the founder of jack-in-the-box restaurant chain. o'connor came clean as part of a deal to defer prosecution for two years as she attempts to repay that debt. put it all on red. heather: got good news now. new signs of hope on the jersey shore after superstorm sandy. construction of a new boardwalk is getting underway in seaside heights today. and the mayor there is hoping to have everything

finished by this memorial day. with the roller-coaster rand a lot of debris still in the water not everyone is optimistic about their progress. rick leventhal is live for us in seaside heights, new jersey. what do you think, rick, will things start on time here? >> reporter: heather, if there was a party out here they say they would be ready. there was a lot of applause as the mayor called it a new day and a new beginning with the pilings being pounded into the ground. you see a i will poof them here and heavy equipment there, to begin the process of rebuilding the boardwalk. if you look down this way, that is where the boardwalk used to be. and where it will be once again. we can show you video of what the boardwalk used to look like. it was the lifeline of this community, part of tourism dollars that pour in here. thousands of visitors that come to the boardwalk but it was destroyed by hurricane sandy. more than a mile of it was ripped to shreds. they brought in the heavy equipment this morning.

they brought in and excavated mounted auger to drill a deep hole into the sand and viibratory piling to pound into the sand and form a structure and base for the new boardwalk and we spoke to the mayor about it this morning. >> any great journey starts with a first step and this is huge first step for us. this will let people know we can do a project this big and certainly can help you get your home together and get your business together, whatever it might be. >> reporter: 60 pilings in all will be pounded in today alone, heather. they will keep doing 60 a day for the next couple a weeks. more than 100 a day until they can finish this project. heather: no kidding. rick, there is lot of debris or has been in the water. what happened to all that? is it still there? >> you can still see the jet star roller coaster still in the ocean, an iconic symbol of hurricane sandy. there is a lot of debris around it. we got close up pictures yesterday. that casino pier fell into

the water. a roller-coaster and other stuff out there is on the bottom of the ocean. today, today they signed a contract with a company to clean up that debris and they say it will be up and out of the water within 50 days. >> since the beginning i've always been saying the roller-coaster is the easy part. it is everything else that you don't see will be the harder part. i'm convinced professionals will do their job. they will have it all out. >> reporter: that roller coaster cleanup is the responsibility of vincent who is one of the coowners of that pier. they have to pay for that. we're told the arm corps of engineers will make debris is up out of the rest of the ocean and they will be done by memorial weekend. heather: one second, rick, when remove the roller-coaster are they having another one out there? >>reporter: they have other rides up and ready to go. the roller-coaster is question mark. heather: rick leventhal in seaside heights, new jersey. bill: up to 1000 injured in russia as a result of that

meteor. we'll have an update on that. a world famous disabled olympian charged with premeditated murder forring his girlfriend. now we have the first statement from him in court today. heather: meantime thousands are returning from that nightmare at sea. what some say they will do now that they're back on terra firma. life on board was certainly not so easy. >> kind of camped out by our lifeboat. we would have nightmares about titanic basically happening and we wanted to be by the lifeboats. technologyd is moving backward. [ engine turns over, tires squeal ] and you'll find advanced safety technology like an available heads-up display on the 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. on the 2013 lexus gs. new griddle-melts to youre usual breakfast sandwich. a lot more flavor. [ anouncer ] ihop's new griddle melts... made fresh and hot! hand crafted just for you. it's like a sexy sandwich. [ anouncer ] compare new griddle melts yourself. just $4. it's like a sexy sandwich.

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america. heather: i'm heather nauert. the cruise ship docked in mobile, alabama. buses were taking others to nearby hotels. despite their ordeal some people actually thanked the crew on board that ship. >> it was a horrible experience but the crew did everything they could possibly due or even imagine doing with smiles on their faces. serving us all. doing things absolutely unthinkable. >> it was bad. we don't want to downplay the fact it was bad. >> we want to make sure the crew gets credit to make it a better experience for us. >> regardless where it happened, it would have been bad. >> [inaudible]. >> i go tomorrow. you fall off a buys sell, -- bicycle, you don't ever not ride it again. bill: we have a passenger that was on board the cruise. renee. good morning.

>> good mornings you're part of 4229 stories. what's yours? >> yeah. well, we, this was our first cruise going to, going to cozumel. we've never been on a cruise. my husband and i decided we would try it out and we just, it has been a crazy ride. bill: first cruise. how long was the boat operating at sea before it broke down? >> 12 hours. we left cozumel, i think about 5:00 saturday afternoon. and at 5:30 in the morning we heard announcement over the loudspeaker by the captain saying, alpha team, alpha team to report somewhere. and i got up. and told my husband, did you hear that? and he said, he goes, yeah, i heard it, everything is okay. i said, no, do you smell something?

do you smell smoik? we were on the second level and we had no window, no, we were in the middle. so there was no window. we didn't have a balcony. and we smelled smoke. first thing i did was open the cabin door. there was a crewmember there. a gentleman, is everything okay. he said, no, ma'am, it is not. i have to go. he took off. when he did that i told my husband to get up and get dressed. we went to the third floor five minutes into it the power went out and it was completely dark. bill: your ordeal went from there. i want to ask you how the first 12 hours were but probably is a distant memory right now. i understand when you arrived in mobile last night you opted to take a bus out of there and that was an issue. what happened there, renee? >> well, we, my husband and i we were scheduled to take a shuttle to new orleans with everyone and take a

flight today, at 3:45 from new orleans back to houston where we live but after we discussed it and i talked to family members we just felt like we didn't want them in control anymore. we felt --. bill: where are you now then, renee? >> we're in alabama. we just rented our car. and we ended up taking a cab last night to a hotel that my sister reserved for us five minutes away. bill: that's sweet. sorry, renee, where is home? >> home is houston. bill: when will you get there? >> we should be there in about eight hours. bill: i got you. we just rented our car. bill: the golden question is whether or not you would do it again. >> never again. bill: would you and your husband do it? >> never again. my 12-year-old daughter said something to me before we left. she said, mommy, why are you going on a cruise? crazy things happen on those ships. bill: what is your child's name? >> adri a na.

bill: she is one smart daughter. >> she sure is. bill: follow her advice next time. thanks. my best to you and your family and your husband, okay? >> thank you. bill: thank you for sharing your story with us today. >> all righty. bye-bye. bill: 4200 people on board. she is just one of them on and on it goes. heather: sometimes mom has to listen to those kid, huh? oh, boy. buses carrying some of those stranded passengers started arriving in galveston, texas, early this morning the first group pulled in 7:00 a.m. after an eight-hour ride from alabama. for some it was the final destination while others still had to drive more hours. here are just two of the passengers getting off the bus. listen. >> everybody was in the same boat if you will. there was no way anybody had any control over it. >> being a seasoned cruiser with over 40 crewses with carnival this is just, i look at this cruise even though it was more days than when what we initially expected is one of those situations where you could be out of state with a broken down car waiting on

parts. you know, there are other way of being stranded as well. that is the situation that happened in here. this is stranded situation. i feel that carnival, did put forth the effort to make sure we were taken care of. we did have food. we did have university with. we were able to take showers. we were just limited on not having a full ship. >> we have three more planned this year on carnival. can't wait for the triumph to come out of dry-dock. we're going right back on it. bill: he is one of them. bud you heard rene say never again for a cruise. you would think that would be a common response but apparently not. a popular website for the industry reporting above average quote requests and bookings over the last five days with very few cancellations. still there are travel agents saying it is too early to tell what the impact will be on the industry. carnival is a huge, huge company by the way. heather: yeah. bill: they operate about 70% of the cruises worldwide. the company is not going to go away. if they handle this

correctly they will be all right in the end. heather: some might say it is a little too late to handle it correctly. we'll talk about that. despite the lack of cancellations bill talked about carnival cruise lines is still dealing with a new public relations disaster as pictures and stories come out about the filthy conditions on board the ship. one passenger doesn't blame carnival for what happened. >> no one can ever prepare for the kind of situation whether it is the captain or the crewmembers or the patrons on board. so i don't care what carnival line it was or what company it was. when your engine is on fire there is nothing you can do. they handled it with the utmost respect for us. heather: nothing they can do. do you buy that? let's talk to a former senior officer for carnival cruise lines. good morning, how do you think the company handled this? >> you know when every deck become as poop deck then you're going to have a pr nightmare and cause for concern. you know i think, i think the crew and all the reports that we heard the crew did a

fantastic job. i think the executives of the cruise line could have done a little better getting ahead of this story and overcommunicating with the public and with the families. heather: some people on board the ship saying they simply didn't know what happened. i don't know if you caught bill's interview with one of the passengers on board but sounded absolutely terrifying. smoke coming in, filling their room, not knowing what was going on. how effectively do you think the company was china kbat -- communicating with people on board? >> we have reports of passengers getting their updates from the media as opposed to the crew on board the ship. and i've seen this in the past. there was a fire on the carnival ecstasy. my wife had a friend on board. she found out about the fire that was on her ship by turning on the television. she is like, oh, a cruise ship is on fire. wait a minute, that is my ship. so i think, i think there needs to be, again overcommunication with the passengers. heather: jay, let me mention to our viewers right now, we're looking at a shot of the deck.

you see all kinds of white sheets, sort of a shanty town. people were sleeping up there because it was too hot and too smelly down in the cabins. i want to ask you about this. there are reports that the ceo of carnival cruise lines was out at miami heat basketball game, one of the nights that boat was stranded at sea. seems like a ridiculous idea to me. what are these people thinking? do they care? >> yeah, i think that was a mistake. when something like this happens, i would almost think, you know, if public, call the coast guard and land the ceo on the ship. i mean, imagine --. heather: that would have been all-out riot. i can see a ceo not wanting to do that. i get your point. let's have some accountability there. why didn't any management from the company get on the ship and see what it was like themselves? >> yeah, i think the more you try to hide from the media and from people wanting to know, the more you attract them. so i think if they get out ahead of it i think it would be better for everyone. heather: the company's stock price as of close of the markets yesterday was down

5%. so a bit of a hit but not a huge hit. and we hear from some people who say they're already booking their next cruise. so does the company really just this core group of people who love their cruises so much that they don't care, they're willing to do it again? >> yeah. i talk about this in my book, the truth about cruise ships. the industry is bullet-proof. carnival cruise lines is bulletproof. only 20% of passengers have ever taken a cruise, of americans have ever taken a cruise. so we continue to see the industry grow year after year as new ships come out. and, you know, the passengers report a 95% approval rating for their cruise. so we see repeat passengers all the time. heather: despite that, a norovirus and other things going on. by the way we showed the folks sheet up on the deck before. i understand that carnival cruise, took down all the sheets prior to the ship coming into port, presumably so people wouldn't see that from that port because that would be another bat image

for them. >> yeah. heather: i guess the company is banking on people having short memories about these things? >> yeah. you know, it is funny like we hear with reports we don't see any slowdown in bookings, carnival will take a hit on revenue on this ship specifically specifically for the lost bookings. heather: for a couple months. jay, we'll have to leave it there. thank you so much for coming in. he is a former senior officer for carnival cruise lines. that stock is down, or expected to lose about 8 to 10 cents per share in the early part of the year. bill: the ceo was there last night. he needed to be there last night especially for the company's image. pick up on the woman she spoke to. what did she say? i'm done with you people. heather: never again. i don't want you to be in control of my destiny. bill: i don't want a bus or a taxi. i will take care of it myself. heather: can't blame her. bill: senate democrats have a whole new idea to head off massive defense cuts that some say would decimate our military starting in 13 days. republicans say that idea is dead on arrival. heather: then some really

harsh words from a mavy commander after the aisle is killed usama bin laden says he feels abandoned by the military. we will tell you about that. bill: a major story for us today. hours after a massive meteor injured thousands of people in russia. there is another close encounter expected a giant asteroid is expected to buzz planet earth today dentures are very different to real teeth. they're about 10 times softer and may have surface pores where bacteria can multiply. polident kills 99.99% of odor causing bacteria and helps dissolve stains. that's why i recommend polident. [ male announcer ] cleaner, fresher, brighter every day.

heather: some harsh words to tell you about from a navy commander after the navy seal who shot usama bin laden said he felt abandoned by the u.s. military. that shooter he will telling "esquire" magazine and he has no pension and lost his health insurance when he left the service. the rear admiral told the navy times that the seal knew what he was giving up four years shy of the 20 year mark. the admiral was quoted disappointed with the people who use their seal cachet for self-serving purposes.

most of our former or retired nsw, naval special warfare members find a suitable second career without compromising ideals of active service, honor, courage and commitment. bill: senate democrats now proposing their budget plan to head off massive automatic defense cuts set for 1 days from now to begin. the pentagon said those pentagon cuts would quote, decimate our military. that plan includes $55 billion in spending cuts as well as $55 billion more in new taxes. targeting wealthy americans, those that make more than a million dollars a year. republican sass i that idea is doa. >> this is not a solution. even they know it can't pass. that's the idea. it is a political stunt designed to mask the fact they have offered no solutions. >> is there a spending problem? no. because we have a misallocation of capital. a misallocation of wealth. we have a tax code. that is skewed toward the

wealthy. bill: that was from yesterday. chris wallace today, anchor of "fox news sunday." how are you doing, chris. good morning. >> i'm interested in tom harkin saying this is misallocation of wealth. we have went through this with nancy pelosi last week. the top 1% of taxpayers pay 39% of all taxes. top five mers pay 58% of all taxes. for senator harkin that a misallocation. bill: a miss allocation of capital. a tax code skewed towards, in favor of wealthy. i mean republicans have said, forget about it. the tax hike on december 31st. it will not happen again. what will happen. >> with will happen we may well hit the sequester. that is the prevailing opinion on capitol hill. it is so interesting to hear how both sides how devastating it would be, devastate the pentagon. the white house says that it would mean law enforcement officers will be laid off

and teachers and food safety inspectors. so what is the congress, republicans and democrats what are they doing? they're taking next week off and going on recess. when they get back there will only be three, four days until the march 1st deadline kicks in. i think we'll probably hit the sequester. it will be interesting to see what the real world effect is and how the markets and people react to it. bill: if that is the case, is either side cheering for this to happen? >> no. bill: hey it happened and, the sky did not fall and there's your proof? >> no, i don't think either side is cheering for it but i think that each side thinks they will get the benefit of it. i know the white house believes that they're on the right side of this issue politically. and it's interesting, the polls don't give a clear indication of this. on one hand people think we have spending problem. the government spend too much. when people are asked about deficit reduction, one of the things they always say, tax the wealthy, obviously that doesn't come at their

experience for the vast majority of americans. it will be very interesting to see if we hit the sequester how it will play out in terms of the markets and real world effect of these cuts, layoffs and how the public reacts and how the politics of this plays out. bill: john boehner says the senate has to make the first move. they made the first move. they didn't vote on the idea yesterday but made it public. you have to think it was dead on arrival as we mentioned a moment ago. mitch mcconnell called it a political stunt. >> what makes this even more troubling just real quickly is the fact that the tax cuts go into effect immediately but a lot of the spending cuts don't go into effect until 2015. tax increases, rather. so i mean this is what the republicans say happens all the time. tax increases happen now with the promise of spending cuts that can happen, you know, that can not take a effect later. we'll talk on sunday to lindsey graham and to rand paul. i suspect they will both have a lot to say about this in addition to the halg gel

nomination and a lot of other issues on capitol hill. bill: looking forward to that. see you sunday morning. chris wallace. anchor of "fox news sunday." see you sunday. here's heather. heather: we're getting new details on that meteor that rained down over russia. look at this. [scream] you heard that blast there. that was actually a sonic boom. we're hearing that many more people are now reported to be hurt. we'll tell you about that. plus we'll show you the very first picture of the crater that meteorite left behind. bill: the forensic tests are in on the charred remains brought out of the cabin in california. that is the former cop chris dorner, that is where he staged his last stand. >> i saw him and i turned around and ran. i don't remember if he said anything. i don't know if i said anything. i saw him, scared as ever felt my life. turned around and ran down the stairs.

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bill: here is a headline of the moment out of russia. we're now told that about a thousand people at a minimum have been injured as a result of this meteor and some of the images that we're seeing in the surveillance video, this was day time. you can clearly see the arc go across the sky in the late afternoon there. we also have this now. the first picture of the crater that was left behind. get this. it landed in a lake, a frozen lake in the middle. russian winter. how lucky are they with this location here? you see the size of it is described as ten tons. heather: yeah. bill: i mean mean raining from the sky in the middle of the day and hear the reaction and windows shattering. man, they are so lucky that

no one was killed vilt of the damage done by that meteor. heather: looking at that picture you get a little bit of a sense of the size of it 9 you see the man standing alongside of it and a big hole. looks like a big ice fishing hole in a way. massive sigh of relief from the police and the public as california's biggest manhunt ever comes to an end. a body found in a burned out cabin is identify as former l.a.p.d. police officer chris dorner. his would be targets are relieved of their police protection. adam housley is live in big bear lake, california. good morning, adam. what do we know about the cause of dorner's death in that cabin? anything yet? >> reporter: not anything yet. yesterday afternoon we were told they might release it in two parts. it is up to the sheriff of san bernardino county. the body was postively

identified as christopher usingl records. we will expect a further report in the coming weeks that will give you a cause of death and other information in regards to his death. a lot of officers believe he shot himself as that cabin was fully engulfed in flames. speaking of that cabin, we have new still photos that came in yesterday as well, yesterday afternoon. it gives you a much clearer picture of the cabin. and that cabin in fact has just been reopened we're told. so we're headed there next as the investigation took a couple days. they went through to find as much as they could. heather? heather: adam housley live for us in big bear. we'll watch that one, thank you very much. bill:. bill: so an olympian charged with premeditated murder. knew evidence found against the man known as "the blade runner" of accused of shooting his girlfriend. we have his first statement in court. we'll bring that to you. heather: we have the unprecedented standoff between the republicans and the white house as the president's pick for secretary of defense is officially blocked. >> just when you thought

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bill: it is 10:30 in new york. new developments now in the standoff between republicans and the white house. after the president's pick for secretary of defense was blocked late yesterday, delaying the confirmation of the former senator chuck hagel. our chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel back

live on the hill. mike, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. bill: what is the feeling, the sense now among democrats after the hagel vote there? >> reporter: well, bill, it was fascinating. there was a full-court press yesterday trying to get to 60 votes with utah republican senator voting president, orrin hatch they had 58. former republican senator chuck hagel will have to wait longer. he will get an uptown vote after next week's senate recess. the majority leader sounded frustrated. >> if this is not a filibuster. if this is not a filibuster, i'd like to see what a filibuster was. the first time in the history of our country that a secretary of defense has been filibustered

successfully. >> hagel is a controversial nominee who by almost all accounts did not perform well in his confirmation hearing. so chuck hagel will wait a little longer, bill. bill: what are you hearing from republicans? are they trying to kill the hagel nomination or what is the rub? they say bottom line that democrats did not have a problem when president bush was in office waiting his nominees wait a little longer and have them achieve that 60-vote threshold. republicans say they are not playing games. >> this is not a filibuster, if it is, then this was in 2005 contrary to the assertions of joe biden and chris dodd. i agree with them in this instance, this is merely an effort not to close off debate, but to allow reasonable inquiries, to get information that will advice the senators' vote when it comes to voting on th-frpblgts republicans say privately that they think ultimately chuck hagel will get

through. there are more than enough democratic votes to carry him across the finish line. there are 55 democrats in the senate. over the next ten days or show if there is a bombshell, something comes out obvious here that could change things, bill. bill: certainly could. something to watch georgia today. mike emanuel live on the hill. heather: something else we're watching this morning fox news alert. we are waiting to hear from the family of reeva steamkamp this morning. oscar pistorius is accused of of killing her in south africa. he was in court a few hours ago and broke down in tears. prosecutors updated the charges to premeditated murder in the valentine's day killing of his fashion model girlfriend. i is the first double amputee to compete in the olympic games earning the name bladerunner. rod wheeler is a former police

detective and fox news contributor, he joins us now. today waking up we find out he's charged with premeditated murder. >> apparently the police have learned new information, heather pertaining to this murder. the question remains here, was there a note of some type and how coul coincidental that this murder was right at the same time as valentine's day, and whether or not there was some other type of communication between oscar and miss reeva, prior to her going over to his home. i think once the police learned all of that information then they decided to up the charges from just murder to premeditated murder, which of course simply means that this had to be a planned event. heather: we are also hearing stories that soft neighbors were reporting screaming, or perhaps some sort of arguing, perhaps, perhaps, coming from his house. could that have played a role in this. >> i think that is going to play a significant role in it. let me quickly explain -- depending upon -- remember first of all this guy oscar said that

he thought the person was an intruder coming into his home. once the police arrived on the scene they found out that the evidence was not consistent with what he was saying. for example, there was no signs of forced entry. so if there is no signs of forced entry, no other signs of a struggle the only thing we have is this guy with the weapon shooting her, and you have the witnesses saying that they heard an argument prior to the murder, all of these things combined will obviously be a factor in the court case, heather. heather: the autopsy on the victim is taking place today, what specifically will they be looking for? >> excellent question there is a lot of ballistic information we can gain from the autopsy. how far was the actual shooter oscar in this case from the victim? whether or not there is any type of injuries on her body that she perhaps sustained prior to being shot. what about injuries on his body? so awful these thing all of these things from the autopsy will be considered. i actually think it will be part of the overall case, heather. heather: rules in courtrooms are

different all across the world, not as familiar with their system there. i am wondering what can be admitted as evidence. we hear about past domestic calls. he was arrested back in 2009 for allege eld lea salting someone. he apparently threatens to break someone's legs, a guy involved with an ex-girlfriend or something like that. can any of that play into this case here? >> here is the thing in any country obviously you can try to get that information in as part of the court case. obviously his defense is going to try to argue that it should not be admitted because it's not relevant to this particular case. it will be interesting to see whether or not the judge over there in south africa allows that to be part of this case. but, again, i think they are going to try to kind of create a profile, heather of this guy in saying that this guy was pre tkerpblgsd he had se predetermined e had set out to kill her. the motive in in case will be very interesting. we have not heard that yet. heather: certainly the motive is what would be key. what would cause this guy

potentially to go out and commit this kind of murder, although prosecutors may paint him as a hot head because he has been in a little bit of trouble in the past. >> there have been reports that he pulled his weapon on someone once before. all these things will clearly play a role in this case once it in fact goes to court. heather: he's a big star down in south africa, do you think that will earn him any breaks? >> it's hard to say. obviously here in the united states we don't consider that. over in south africa it may play a role in this as well. we'll have to wait and see exactly whether or not it will. heather: rod wheeler, thank you very much, a former d.c. homicide detective and also a fox news contributor. bill: watch this story and see where it goes. there was a statement that came out from his side saying the alleged murder is disputed in the strongest terms. and wants to express his thanks through us today for all the messages of support he received through this terrible, terrible tragedy. there he is with his head in his hands earlier today in court. heather: weepee keep watching that one.

bill: brand-new pictures just in of that massive meteor that has injured more than a thousand people today. look at that thing just streaking across the sky. wait until you see how big one piece of this was. heather: that was just one piece too. we'll show you that. and the nra -- the ceo of the nra, let's get that straight there, blasting president obama's state of the union address. we'll tell you why he says the speech revealed the president's true feelings about the second amendment. >> it's not about keeping kids safe at school, that wasn't even mentioned in the president's speech. they only care about their decades' long, decades' old gun control agenda. [ male announcer ] in blind taste tests, even ragu users chose prego. prego?! but i've been buying ragu for years. [ thinking ] i wonderhat other questionable choices i've made? [ club scene music ] [ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego.

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heather: a she of force from a close american ally. [sound of gunfire] >> look at that right there as

tension continues to build on the korean peninsula south korea now staging military drills and boasting of brand-new cruise missiles just days after a controversial nuclear test by its neighbors to the north. the south's defense minister called north korea a quote hopeless rogue state. more drills expected today. bill: the nra says the president is now revealing his true feelings about the second amendment. it argues it became obvious during his state of the union address earlier in the week. here is the head of the nra now. >> it was only a few weeks ago when they were marketing their antigun agenda as a way of protecting school children from harm. that charade ended at the state of the union when the president himself exposed their fraudulent intentions. it's not about keeping kid safe at school, that wasn't even mentioned in the president's speech.

bill: let's debate that now with mary katherine ham editor at large. and juan williams. good morning to both of you. m. k. hammer is, lapierre correct or not. >> i think this was completely disconnected as to what would happen when such laws were passed. i don't think the president made an argument of how it would help. a national assault weapons ban did not prevent columbine or newtown unfortunately. and we've seen in chicago where he's going to be talking about gun violence, ironically that the tightest gun controls in the nation have not helped with the murder rate there. actually fixing gun violence is a lot harder than having this vote, which by the way harry reid can bring if he wants to. i think he's nervous about doing that. bill: he's expressed his nervousness to a degree a couple of weeks ago. juan, is lapierre correct when he says keeping kid safe was not

mentioned in the president's speech? >> i don't think so at all. in fact i think he spoke about the young woman in chicago who was killed, and her parents were seated there with michell the ge of the union. bill: that is true, but most people thought it was talking about sandy hook. and newtown. >> you're asking me, bill, is he talking about protecting our children, american children, i think -- and clearly, if you're talking about this moment, and why the gun debate has emerged with such power at this moment i don't think there is anyway to get around what happened in newtown. you look at the poll numbers, the poll numbers were that most americans just add given up on this topic. they thought nothing could be done, the nra was too influential. now more americans are saying, including republicans and members of the nra it's rational, it makes sense to have strong background checks. bill: you wonder if americans think new gun laws will work. >> some polls have shown that

60-some percent don't know that. >> when you ask about universal background checks it's overwhelming. people think it's a good idea. as i said people who own guns think it's a good idea. i think what people are worried about and what mary catherine is referring to is, is it really going to stop the kind of attack we saw in newtown? i'm not sure anything can stop that. is that a reason then to say we can't do anything? bill: let's check the transcript, the transcript from the other night. background checks will make it harder for criminals to get their hands on a gun. then you ask yourself, would that have prevented what happened in sandy hook? he also said tough new laws to prevent anyone from buying guns for resale to criminals. as far as we know the kid at sandy hook was not a criminal. he talked about massive ammunition magazines to get them off our streets. based on what i know about sandy hook there was a 30-clip magazine and nothing greater than that. i thought the reference the other night was anything, 50

bullets, a hundred bullets, the rolls that you can put into an automatic weapon. >> they are talking about the magazines of ten or 30 or so. bill: that wasn't made clear. >> that's fine, that is a good point. but the larger point to your argument, bill, is can we do something here? it's not the case that it would have stopped sandy hook specifically, but we have had a state of mass murderers, attacks in movie houses, school yards, even at churches, and can we as an american people decide something can be done, as opposed to saying, anything that is done is an attack on the second amendment, is a charade. bill: let's hear from mary catherine now. >> when you're passing federal legislation, the onus should be on you to say, yes this will do something. not when i can point to awful the incidents you just numbered off, which are tragic and horrible and say look, it's fairly clear that this would not

help in these situation, that very little gun crime comes from the things you're trying to regulate here. those things impact people that are already law abiding. you can't just pass -- people do all the time unfortunately, but passing federal laws should not be like well it might work and it will make us feel good. one more thing, one more thing. chicago by the way completely led by liberals and democrats have some of the strongest gun laws in the country. why isn't this place a promised land of making this stuff work. >> i live in the district -- look you live outside the district of columbia. i live in the district of columbia, they have extremely strong gun control laws. they have a high murder rate. why is that because guns come in from virginia that has lax gun laws. >> we have so much guns in virginia and we don't have a high murder rate. maybe there is a bigger social problem going on with gangs in larger cities. >> my life and protect being my family means nothing to people in virginia and i should be

ignored. >> i want to thank huh, juan for putting that so accurately and disrespectfully to a friend of yours who you know cares very much about you. thanks a lot. >> you have to care about the idea that guns are flowing in. >> i would like you to accept the fact that people like me do care, we also care about other things, including preserving people's rights who are already law abiding citizens and i also care about actually helping people. in places like chicago liberals have failed to to that and i would like you to show me how cutting down other people's' freedoms is going to help in the future, because i'm interested in helping those people. >> my argument to you is i think people who want safety as they walk the street in a big city should have that. that's their right. bill: i appreciate the debate, but i think you are honestly offended, mary catherine. >> a little bit, but juan and i will make it up later. >> we'll hug it out. bill: are you guys going to be okay? i don't want to have to get

between the two of you. i appreciate the thoughts from both of you. juan we'll see you next week. heather: you are between the two of them, separate them. bill: make everything is cool, i'm the middle child. i've got to make sure my older brothers and sisters are happy and my younger sisters are happy. heather: that's your role. nasa is predicting another close encounter for planet earth later today. it is an astroid this time, not a meteorite. this one is the size of half a football field. we'll tell but that. bill: also that nightmare is over thankfully. and in the dark of night, passengers are back in mobile now, back on dry land once again but sharing so many stories of what life was like on board a ship that was anything but pleasant. >> a black out occurred on the ship and everything went dark which with us terrifying. as soon as it came back on again they said that's when we are going to turn around and go to mobile, bam r it will be an

extra three or four days. that's when you could feel everybody's energy like --

jon: good morning i'm jon scott. fire in the sky a meteor plummets to earth smashing windows and injuring hundreds. it will get your attention especially when a much bigger astroid is about to make a near earth pass. passengers off that crippled cruise ship and they have stories to tell. we'll hear several of them tell us about life on board the stricken triumph. have you heard about the nasty and very public fight between electric carmaker tesla and "the new york times"? our news panel take it on in eight minutes on "happening now."

[sound of car alarms ] bill: that is just amazing to watch. i meantime and again. that is a massive meteor we told you about that injured hundreds, maybe even more than a thousand. it damaged about 3,000 buildings, exploding over russia earlier today. that is one event now. but it turns out here on planet earth we'll soon have another encounter with an astroid, entirely different deal on the screen here, what scientists say could be the closes fly by of any object in history of this size. and what a size it is too. an astroid half the side of a football field, it comes closer than even some of our satellites in space circling the planet. experts say a direct hit will not happen because of the astroid. meteor a different deal in russia as we found out. phil keating is live in the newsroom down in miami.

i suppose nothing is guaranteed, right, phil? >> reporter: so true. keep in mind with all the telescopes looking for this astroid nobody predicted the meteor that rained terror over russia early this morning. the still approaching astroid is called da14 is still speeding towards earth three and a half hours from its closest point. a tron mores worldwide are watching but not concerned. this astroid is about half a football field long or roughly the size of a 12-story building like this. the real threat, according to the scientific community though is very small. it's to communication satellites like the ones that we at fox news use. da14 pen straits the ring at 23 eastern and exits the plane at

324. the odds of this astroid hit ago very large satellite nearly impossible. president obama and other world leaders have and alerted. bill: the whole dealo that took out the dinosaurs, they thought it was one of these astroid, right? what is the risk that they could say this this could happen again. >> it could happen again. a tron mores around the world are lookingout and into space all the time. knowledge is growing more and more as the years go by. those monitoring these near-earth objects, they say there are about a million astroids and meteors in earth's proximity and they are looking up all the time. >> we've seen and tracked about 9,000 of them right now, and about a thousand of them are potentially hazardous. we look at those carefully, and it turns out we are safe from those for many hundreds of

years. >> reporter: a rock this size attributed to the 1908 event in russia that leveled trees and forests or hundreds of miles, bill. bill: let's hope it hits the ocean some time. phil, thank you. phil keating in miami on that. heather: i remember it starts out as an astroid, becomes a meter when it hits the atmosphere and a meteorite if it hits the ground. the stories are pouring out after the carnival cruise ship triumph makes its less than triumphant return to port. details on what life was like there, coming up. writing the next chapter for the rx and lexus. this is the pursuit of perfection.